A fifth successive win not only kept Royal Challengers Bengaluru in contention for a playoffs spot but also lifted them to fifth spot on the points table, just above Delhi Capitals who have the same points as RCB but an inferior net run rate.

The M Chinnaswamy had gone all quiet when RCB lost Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli inside four overs. It seemed their batting troubles from the start of the season had come back to haunt them. Will Jacks and Rajat Patidar put to rest any such worries with a counter-attacking partnership, but the DC bowlers struck back with a near-perfect death-overs show to restrict RCB to 187 for 9.

With the Bengaluru crowd firmly behind them, the RCB bowlers had their tails up. They reduced DC to 30 for 4, which included the massive wicket of  Jake Fraser McGurk who was run out at the non-striker’s end after a straight drive from Shai Hope deflected off Yash Dayal’s fingers onto the stumps.

In his 250th IPL outing, Kohli had a relatively easy opponent first up: Ishant Sharma against whom he had scored 93 off 67 balls without being dismissed. He kept out a sharp inswinger on the first ball of the match and then pulled one over square leg for a six on the last ball of the opening over.

In Ishant’s next over, he hit a four – via an outside edge – and a crisply-timed no-look shot over wide long-on for a six off successive balls before nicking one behind to the wicketkeeper. With a 13-ball 27, Kohli made his intent clear but failed to do justice to the Midas touch he seemed to be in.

Before Sunday, Patidar had been dismissed by pace in eight of his 11 outings in IPL 2024. But here, he raced to 15 off eight balls with the help of three fours in a Mukesh Kumar over. When Axar Patel,  the stand-in captain for DC, brought himself on in the sixth over, Patidar duly slogged him over deep midwicket. He also tore into Kuldeep Yadav, bashing him straight over his head.

At the other end, Jacks also hit Kuldeep for a six in each of his first two overs as RCB put the dismissals of their openers behind them. Thanks to the assault from Patidar and Jacks, RCB scored 49 in the four overs after the powerplay. In the process, Patidar brought up his fourth half-century in his last five innings, and his first in Bengaluru this season. That the fielders missed four chances in 11 balls, including two dropped catches in a Kuldeep over, did not help DC.

DC brought Rasikh Salam on in the 11th over and he could have dismissed Patidar first ball but Axar failed to hang on at cover. But Salam exacted revenge in his next over with a hard-length ball. Patidar looked to force it over the off side off the front foot but ended up miscuing it towards cover, where Axar moved to his right to pouch that. That brought curtains to his 88-run stand with Jacks, who fell soon after to Kuldeep.

But Mahipal Lomor and Cameron Green combined to take 22 off Kuldeep’s final over, the 17th of the innings, to raise RCB’s hopes. Khaleel Ahmed, who was taken for 23 in his first two overs, struck twice in three balls in the 18th over to dismiss Lomror and Dinesh Karthik. He finished with figures of 2 for 31 from his four overs. Salam got rid of

Swapnil Singh and returned 2 for 23 from his three. DC conceded only 40 in the last four overs, and picked up five wickets, to keep RCB under 200 on a surface where the ball was gripping.

Fraser-McGurk played true to his form and struck left-arm spinner Swapnil for a massive six over wide long-off to get going. Among those who have faced at least 30 balls of spin in IPL 2024, no batter strikes it higher than Fraser-McGurk’s 262.85. But a lucky break for RCB meant the DC opener walked back cheaply.

This was after David Warner, back in the side after missing four matches, was out for 1 off two. Dayal had bounced out Abishek Porel cheaply. It was only the second time this season that RCB picked up four wickets inside the powerplay – earlier, they had done so against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

In the middle overs, RCB seamers had a clear plan of hitting the good length and denying the batters room to free their arms. Between overs eight and 11, they bowled 16 deliveries on either good length or just short of it, and gave away just 15 runs off them.

Only Axar, leading for the first time in the IPL, managed to offer some resistance with his second half-century of the season. He book-ended Jacks’ only over with sixes to bring up his fifty off 30 balls. But long before he top-edged Dayal over backward point, where du Plessis back-tracked and took a tumbling catch, the result was a foregone conclusion.

Brief Scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru 187/9 in 20 overs (Virat Kohli 27, Rajat Patidar 52, Will Jacks 41, Cameron Green 32*; Ishant Sharma 1-31,  Mukesh Kumar 1-23, Kuldeep Yadav 1-52, Khaleel Ahmed 2-31,  Rasikh Salam 2-23) beat Delhi Capitals 140 in 19.1 overs (Jake Frase-McGurk 21, Shai Hope 29, Axar Patel 57; Swapnil Singh 1-09, Mohammed Siraj 1-33, Yash Dayal 3-20, Lockie Ferguson 2-23, Cameron Green 1-19) by 47 runs